In synchronous data systems such as the synchronous digital hierarchy SDH and a corresponding system SONET, used in North America, binary data are inserted into pulse frames and transmitted. So that signals having relatively high data rates also can be transmitted via systems which only have a restricted transmission capacity, these signals are divided into a number of subsignals having a lower data rate. A corresponding arrangement is described as “inverse multiplexers” and is known, for example, from European patent application EP 0 429 888.
In the near future, it can be expected that there will be devices, for example routers, which will deliver STM-256/OC-768 signals with about 40 Gbit/s. At present, wavelength-division multiplexer systems, the individual channels of which are designed for transmission rates of 10 Gbit/s, are still being used in optical transmission technology.
It is an object of the present invention to specify a method which enables STM-256/OC-768 signals to be transmitted via 10 Gbit/s channels.